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V1, V2 vs. V7, V8 pups

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18K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  KennyV 
#1 ·
Can anyone explain the difference between these pickups? I have a '92 RG570 and it came equipped with the V1, S1, and V2 pups and they sound good. But, I was looking through the early 90's catalogs and I have come to realize that in '92 the V1 and V2 pickups are not standard for that year except for the left handed models. Most 570 models in 92 started coming equipped with the V7 and V8 pups. Are these pickups similar, identical, or is my guitar a special case? Please enlighten me.
 
#7 ·
I like V7&V8 much less then V1&V2 (i have RG Prestige 2005 and 91' RG550). I will agree about lacking clarity and being a bit muddy - it goes for all of them. While V1 and S1 don't put much on the table, V2 is great for distorted sound and lowering volume will give you nice clean sound. I would put V1&2 in front of V7&8 and INF.

They all are solid stock pickups anyway...
 
#8 · (Edited)
I know this is a very old thread, but I want to share my experience with the Ibanez V7, V8, V1, V2, and a bunch of DiMarzio pickups. I have two identical 2001 Ibanez RG570 MIJ guitars. Both guitars came with Ibanez V7(neck)/S1(middle)/V8(bridge) pickups, and are setup identically with D'Addario 009-042 strings. The V7 is bright & has tight/reduced lows, it makes the neck position sound similar to the bridge. The V8 has good harmonics & rhythm crunch, but mids are a bit relaxed & highs are somewhat bright for soloing. The S1 is a relatively hot single coil that blends well with tapped humbuckers. I especially like the fact that the S1 can be lowered away from the strings & still retain a good, strong output.

I decided to keep one of the RG570's stock & experiment with different humbuckers in the other.

I tried some DiMarzios...
Bridge: Tone Zone - too muddy.
Bridge: Norton - good bass, fat mids, lacks presence & harmonics.
Bridge: Fred - nice crunch & harmonics, but bass is a bit weak.
Neck: PAF Pro - okay, but could use more power/sustain.
Neck: Breed Neck - bass is too boomy and highs seem a little too aggressive.

Then I tried Ibanez V1 (neck) & V2 (bridge) from a 1990 RG550...
V1 - nice overwound PAF with smooth highs, good definition, & beefy lows.
V2 - warm tone, excellent sustain, harmonics, and dynamics.

In conclusion, my favorite pickups for the RG570 out of all listed above are the Ibanez V2 (bridge) & V1 (neck), because they provide a good variety of sounds & can cover anything from pop to metal. The DiMarzio Fred & PAF Pro combination are good options for rock, pop, and blues. The Ibanez V8 & V7 are good for rhythm players, and would probably work well for leads in darker sounding guitars.
---

Here are some details about the pickups I tried...

Ibanez V1 - Alnico, 10.5K Ohms, 1 row of fixed poles & 1 row of slot screws, V1 printed in white on bobbin with fixed poles.

Ibanez V2 - Alnico, 16.4K Ohms, 1 row of fixed poles & 1 row of slot screws, V2 printed in white on bobbin with screws.

Ibanez V7 - Ceramic, 9.5K Ohms, 1 row of fixed poles & 1 row of hex screws, V7 printed in white on bobbin with fixed poles.

Ibanez V8 - Alnico, 16.5K Ohms, 1 row of fixed poles & 1 row of hex screws, V8 printed in white on bobbin with hex screws.

DiMarzio Tone Zone - Alnico 5, 17.3K Ohms, 1 row of fixed poles & 1 row of slot screws.

DiMarzio Norton - Alnico 5, 12.6K Ohms, 1 row of fixed poles & 1 row of slot screws.

DiMarzio Fred - Alnico 5, 10.1K Ohms, 2 rows of hex screws.

DiMarzio PAF Pro - Alnico 5, 8.4K Ohms, 2 rows of hex screws.

(Note: DC resistance values listed above were measured with a high quality Fluke 87 DMM)
 
#9 ·
I know this thread is super old, but I've been looking into information about this as well.

I have an 87 lefty RG550 in road flare red, as well as a 2018 Genesis in RFR.

The age of the guitar may play a bit of a difference, but the pickups are completely different personalities.

The personalities of all 3 of my rg550s from 87 to 90 are actually very similar.

Going a bit into the history I uncovered when researching the 550s, specifically the left handed models, I found a few interesting things.

It seemed that after 87/88 it became very very hard to find colored 550s with matching headstocks.
It appeared that they pre made an absurd amount of black headstocks compared to any other color.

Black was probably easier to deal with so eventually many production models were being sold with black instead of matched. This was more true with lefty then righty sales.

The left handed models also seemed to be a bit behind the curve on the right handed changes as well.

87 and 88, the pickups were unlabeled.
Late 88 and 89, they started having a few random different labels silk-screened in white on the pickups.
These ranged in font and title, like IBZ/DMZ/USA. But eventually settled as the V1 S1 and V2.

The exact name isn't really clear but Alot of people seem to settle for v for vintage and s for single.

In 90, they settled on the font used now. And 91 they stopped using v1 and v2 and moved to the current v7 and V8.

All the pickups in the v1 and v2 verity were made by DiMarzio for Ibanez in the USA, but when they swapped to v7 and V8, they moved that to Japan and had a bit of a different formula for production.

The post above me had great details on it.


From my personal experience, the v1/2 sound fantastic, classic, yet high presence.

The neck pickup still sounds a bit single coil like, but very thick and has Alot of dynamic range.

The v7/8 on the other hand.. is kinda thin. It still has Alot of range and versatility, especially in the cleaner tones, but it just doesn't have the umph the v1/2 seem to have.
The neck pickup is however Alot more rounded and humbucker sounding. It's a bit thicker overall for tone, but still thin in the sense of presence.

Both fantastic sets that compliment their guitars well, but I find myself enjoying the older v1/2 more then the v7/8
 
#10 ·
Piggy backing on this topic, I find it interesting that the RG20ths in 2007 came with the original V1 V2 pickups, but the later Genesis comes with the V7 V8. If I had not looked at the specs I’d have assumed wrong that they would’ve been produced the same. (I own a 20th, but have not even played a Genesis yet).
 
#11 ·
I own a Genesis.
I love it overall, but there are Alot of things I don't like that they did different to the original 87 line.

Especially on lefty models.

The back plate has screw driver trenches. Sure it's for convenience, but still different.

The neck plate I'm ok with cause it shows it's a Genny with the serial number. Not a big deal.

The neck profile.. sure. I get it. It makes it stronger build and more comfortable overall, but it a bit thicker.

The lefty line however does not have ANY string trees. They went with the cheepie plates. Not even the door style the info 450 comes with!
That's a biggie for me cause I use strong trees as pick holders.

Lastly the pickups. 7/8. Don't get me wrong, they are ok. But still not originals.
I will prob swap them out for evos. I have 2 sets I've been sitting on debating the swap on my 2018 and 1987.

Both sets are green and both guitars are red so they would look sick.
I've got green vinyl covers on my Genny right now just to think it over.
I generally like keeping guitars stock.

The Jr here I do plan to modify, I bought it for that sole option, but my wife said I shouldn't change a brand new guitar. I kinda agree. It works and sounds alright so may as well play it for at least a few strong changes before I change anything.

Thinking black pickgaurd and maybe moving over my black evos into it and just aquire another s1 for the mid.

I also wanted to try and drop an original edge into it cause I have 3 sitting around. But I hear it doesn't fit.
 

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